Psychological Maladjustment, Emotional Intelligence, and Attachment Styles of Orphan and Non-Orphan Adolescents

Abstract

According to UNICEF (2017), Of the nearly 143 to 210 million children classified as orphans, 15.1 million have lost both parents. It is established that number of orphan increases day by day. In orphans, poor mental health is a key factor that led to many psychological issues (Paul & Paul, 2017). It has been assumed that emotional and intellectual deprivation resulting from the absence of parental figure produces a series of psychological maladjustments in adolescents. Emotional intelligence considered as a broad personality trait integrated into the higher levels of a multi-level personality hierarchy. There is still need to investigate the relationship of psychological maladjustment and emotional intelligence in both orphan and normal adolescents. When it comes to care, wellbeing, and psychological adjustment of orphan children, attachment is considered important. The aim of present study is to explore the lived experience in terms of difference in psychological maladjustment, emotional intelligence, and attachment styles among orphan and non-orphan adolescents. In study I, Interviews were conducted to investigate the opinions and experiences regarding psychological maladjustment, emotional intelligence and attachment styles of both orphans and non-orphans. Study II (phase I) consists of translation and validation of the brief emotional intelligence scale (BEIS-10) Which was originally developed by Davies, Devonport, Kevin, Lane, and Scott, (2010). In phase II, pilot study was conducted for validation of BEIS-10 and establishing psychometric properties of Revised version of Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ) (α= .81), Brief Emotional Intelligence scale (BEIS-10) (α= .80), and Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment-Revised (IPPA-R) (α= .72). Sample of main study (Study III) comprised of 595 participants. The data were collected from different orphanages and colleges of Islamabad and Rawalpindi 288 non-orphans (141 boys and 147 girls) with age range from 12-22 years (M=15.83, SD=3.09). 307 orphans (155 boys and 152 girls) having age range between 12-22 years (M=15.92, SD=3.25). Results indicated that (a) there is a significant difference in the psychological maladjustment, emotional intelligence, and attachment styles of orphans and non-orphans. (b) the correlation, regression, and mediation analysis provide evidence that psychological maladjustment are the negative predictors of attachment styles, whereas emotional intelligence mediates the relationship in xii orphan. (c) The effect of demographic variables among the study variables for the orphan and non-orphan groups are also discussed. The study becomes beneficial to social workers as they are working with orphaned children. They can help them by enhancing their positive personality traits and emotional intelligence to facilitate their effective adjustment and understand their emotions to improve their attachment styles.